#NSUFindYourStrong: Making Wellness a Habit

The New Year is already rolling, but can the same be said for our New Year’s resolutions?
No matter what aspect of your life you’re trying to improve, whether it’s physical health or mental well-being, it can be difficult to follow through on these commitments we make to ourselves. How do we turn a desire for self-improvement into a result? Well, make a habit out of it, of course!

BUT…
How do we form a habit we can actually keep?

There are three things to keep in mind when you’re trying to make a habit out of something, whether it’s training for a 5K or building a larger vocabulary.

1. Developing a habit requires starting a habit, and starting over and over again.
Going to the gym one morning will not suddenly turn into a daily workout. You have to decide to go on the one morning, and then decide to go again the next morning, and the morning after and so on. The same is true for any other endeavor. Trying to keep work at work? Deciding not to check your emails one night won’t make that happen, but deciding to only answer emails until six o’clock every night for a month might. Forming a habit is really an exercise in making consistent decisions.

2. You have to start somewhere, so start small.
This may sound like a given, but it’s important. Since habits are formed by consistent decisions, the easier it is to make those decisions, the easier it’ll be to form a habit. You know what they say, you have to walk before you can run.

3. Focus on your commitment – not the results.
When we have a certain vision of ourselves that we’re working towards, it can be discouraging when we don’t achieve that vision as soon as we thought we might. It’s hard to do something over and over again when we feel like we’re getting nothing out of it. That’s why it’s important to let go of results-oriented thinking when it comes to habit formation. Don’t worry over whether or not you’re reaching your goals fast enough. Instead, focus on the commitment you made to improving yourself and maintaining the habit you started because of it. Results will come, but you have to work for them first.

For more information, visit our website at www.rec.nova.edu to see all NSU RecWell has to offer. Follow us on Instagram @NSU_Rec_Well for LIVE programming, contests, updates and more.